Launch of Roads to Yair Bridget Khursheed 17th May 2015 Darnick, Scotland

Come and enjoy a pleasant afternoon in the middle of nowhere celebrating the launch of Bridget Khursheed's new book Roads to Yair (Twinlaw Publishing).

The event is held in Smith Memorial Hall, it is free and there will be nice things to eat and drink, a reading from Bridget and a chance to buy the book. 2.30pm - 4pm. Free

More information about the event is available here https://www.facebook.com/events/625793937522652/625798447522201/ and more information about the book and how to buy it here http://twinlawpublishing.co.uk/

Moviepoems competition @WritingFestival

It is that time of the morning and this appealed to us. What more can we say?

You can find more about this competition here  http://www.wildsound.ca/poetrycontest.html and watch the horrorpoem (interesting concept in itself) movie here - Hammer by Sandra Lester is genuinely well-creepy - don't be distracted by the narrator's accent and long intro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilniHf_urIo

Working on Issue 10 p&g

Thanks to all of you who have submitted to Issue 10 p&g.

Your contributions are under consideration over the next few days and all being well - decisions should be made by the end of the week.

The magazine should be out in time for Maytime festivities we hope. In the meantime, you can check out the myth issue here http://www.poetandgeek.com/magindex.html

Poetry machine resources

We will be trying to make a poetry machine in 10 minutes today at the National Museum of Scotland at about 1pm in the Grand Gallery.

Here are a few more ideas for machine poetry for you to try:

• Code Poetry is a QR poem game - you can either go to existing games in various cities and follow round the QR code poems or set up your own. You can find out how to take part here http://www.codepoetry.gr/about/; and there is also a cool gallery here http://www.codepoetry.gr/media/
• The Poem Generator has an approach similar to the p&g poetry machine - but without the physicality  http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/PoemGen/PoemGen.htm
• And there is Heretical Rhyme Generator - you give it the first line and it riffs on from there - see the example above. You can find HRG at  http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Poem/poem.cgi - there are further resources here too.
• And we couldn't not mention the ever popular Vogon (the authors of "the third worst poetry in the universe" according to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) poem writer tool from the BBC http://poetandgeek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/vogon-poetry-generator.html

You can use these just for fun. Or try to harvest their randomness and make something new. And this is just the tips of the iceberg btw. Enjoy!

Poetry machines Edinburgh International Science Festival #EdSciFest 15th April 2015

I have been spending an interesting day researching and inventing some poet&geek activities for my date at the Edinburgh International Science Festival next week.

Around about lunch time, I will be taking a quick look at poetry riddles, QR code poetry and how (and indeed whether) we can make poems using computers at the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF. I am on the Grand Gallery stage for this pop-up event which is at 1pm and is free. So come and join in - children especially welcome.

Later on in the day I will be reading and talking about how science inspires my poetry at Summerhall. Being p&g, this will include otters, dye chemistry & blood - well certainly - circulation, how to get inside the Megget Dam without being James Bond and ecopoetry. All this and fabulous writers 2014 Manchester Fiction Prize winner Martin MacInnes and Lucy Ribchester (Simon & Schuster) too. This is a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award winner event in collaboration with #EdSciFest.

This event is ticketed £8 and £6 concessions and starts at 8pm and takes place, appropriately enough, in the Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Summerhall, Summerhall Place, Edinburgh EH9 1PL. You can find more details and buy tickets here http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/event-details/the-science-of-storytelling.

Call for poetry Kalyna Review

Submissions requested for the Kalyna Review - this includes poetry and  fiction (including translations), photography, prints and art.

The act of reading allows us to migrate on a brief looping journey into someone's imagination, someone else's culture. The poetry and prose collated [in the Kalyna Review] open several different worlds to the reader. ...So step into our leaky little linguistic boat and enjoy the ride. Who knows where you might go and who might lounge in the bows beside you?

You can find full details here http://www.kalynareview.com/submissions/4574690274

Railway poetry

Doing some research into renovating train carriages as part of preparation for a writing project...

Pictures courtesy of The Old Railway Station Heacham

Predictably this has led NOT to reams of notes but instead the desire to stay in an old railway station in West Norfolk here http://www.oldstationheacham.com/

Last days of petrol

Open Mouse (Poetry Scotland) is open for submissions again editor Colin Will has announced. But he adds on Facebook "...please don't all rush to submit. The slots are full until mid-May, so there's plenty of time."

And this apocalyptic poem - actually more of a liminal drive through the edgelands - is on now from p&g's own Bridget Khursheed.

You can read the poem and find out how to submit your own here https://theopenmouse.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/bridget-khursheed-3/